CR IP TI ON BS SU
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2013
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12MPs 21 17 20 want probe, debate in Kuwait Airways deal No plans to impose taxes on citizens: Dashti
Max 26º Min 15º High Tide 00:01 & 14:14 Low Tide 07:40 & 19:33
By B Izzak
OPEC freezes oil output ceiling VIENNA: OPEC agreed yesterday to hold its crude production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day despite oversupply concerns and competition from cheaper shale oil. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps out about one third of the world’s oil, failed again to decide on a new secretary-general amid group tensions, instead keeping Libya’s Abdullah El-Badri as its administrative head for 2014. And Libya, where output of crude oil has fallen sharply on unrest in the country, will assume the cartel’s rotating presidency for next year, OPEC added in a communique. The decision to maintain the oil ceiling had been widely expected by markets. The cartel, which could see higher production from its members Iran, Iraq and Libya in coming months, nevertheless faces competition from non-OPEC producers of shale oil. The International Energy Agency has said repeatedly that the shale energy boom is changing the landscape of global energy markets. “We don’t say we are not con-
cerned” by shale, Badri told a press conference yesterday - but insisted that OPEC could accommodate US shale output, currently at 2.7 million barrels per day and set to rise further. OPEC said in its statement that “global economic uncertainty, with the fragility of the eurozone remaining a concern” was the biggest challenge facing world oil markets in 2014. It said that “although world oil demand is forecast to increase during 2014, this will be more than offset by the projected increase in non-OPEC supply” amid a boom in oil and gas being extracted from North American shale rock. OPEC added: “Nevertheless, in the interest of maintaining market equilibrium, the conference decided to maintain the current production level of 30 million barrels a day.” Ahead of the meeting, member nations led by the world’s biggest oil producer Saudi Arabia insisted that there was no need to change the ceiling. Continued on Page 13
VIENNA: Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil and President of OPEC Mustafa Jassem Mohammad Al-Shamali (left) and Secretary General of OPEC Abdalla Salem El-Badri of Libya share a word prior to the start of a meeting yesterday. — AP
KUWAIT: MPs targeted yesterday a Kuwait Airways deal to purchase 25 planes and lease 12 others from Airbus, with some demanding details of the deal, others requesting a special session to debate the purchase while still others demanded a parliamentary investigation. National Assembly Speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem said he received a request by a number of MPs to hold a special session to discuss the deal and ask the government for more details, adding that the request will be discussed in the next Assembly session scheduled for Dec 24. The speaker said the government has officially informed the Assembly that it will not attend next week’s two sessions because they coincide with the Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Kuwait. MP Ali Al-Omair said a number of MPs have signed a request to form a parliamentary committee to probe suspicions over the deal, especially the way Kuwait Airways Company signed the memorandum of understanding with Airbus. He said that there is another suspicion that an Amiri decree must have been issued to appoint the board of directors to be able to sign the deal. KAC announced on Monday that it had signed an MoU to purchase 10 Airbus A350-900 and 15 Airbus A320neo aircraft with an option for 10 more, five of each type. The deal also involves leasing 12 Airbus planes, seven A320 and five A330-200 jets. Continued on Page 13
Hezb commander killed Nasrallah says Saudis behind embassy blasts
Truck with radioactive waste stolen Al-AIN: Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahayan meets Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif yesterday. — AP
Tehran reaches out to wary Gulf states DUBAI: With the ink barely dry on a nuclear deal that paves the way for warmer relations with the West, Iran’s new leadership is making a push to patch up tensions with US allies closer to home too. Tehran’s top diplomat arrived in the United Arab Emirates yesterday for talks with the nation’s leader that touched on last month’s nuclear pact, as well as regional security and bilateral relations. It was the sort of courtesy call Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is growing accustomed to making. Since the start of the week, the diplomat has visited four of the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, who have long been wary of Shiite powerhouse Iran. Only Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have been left out of his Gulf tour so far, but they are significant omissions - Saudi Arabia is the region’s powerhouse, while Sunni-ruled Bahrain faces a three -year-old uprising by majority
Shiites. Zarif’s meeting with the Emirati president, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, took place in a palace in the low-key desert oasis city of Al Ain, about 160 km inland from the rapidly developing federal capital, Abu Dhabi. The Emirati leader reiterated his country’s support for the nuclear deal and said his nation looks forward to enhancing regional stability and security, according to an account of their meeting carried by the official WAM news agency. He also said he hoped for more cooperation between the two OPEC member states. Zarif extended an invitation for Khalifa to visit Iran, which the state news agency said “His Highness thankfully accepted,” and expressed Iran’s desire to strengthen its ties with the Gulf countries. Zarif then travelled to Dubai, where he met with ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. — AP
MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities scrambled yesterday to find a truck containing “extremely dangerous” radioactive material used in medical treatment that was stolen by two gunmen two days ago, officials said. The white Volkswagen Worker truck was transporting a “teletherapy source” containing cobalt-60 when it was stolen Monday in the central Hidalgo state town of Tepojaco, north of Mexico City, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The driver told investigators that the gunmen approached him at a service station, tied him up and drove away with the truck, according to a text of the testimony shown by the Hidalgo state prosecutor’s office. The radioactive material came from a hospital in the northwestern city of Tijuana and had been on its way to a waste storage center in the central state of Mexico, authorities said. “At the time the truck was stolen, the source was properly shielded. However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged,” an IAEA statement said. Mexico’s National Commission for Nuclear Safety and Safeguards (CNSNS) released a picture of the steel-reinforced wood container and the teletherapy equipment being lowered into it. The commission, which reported the theft to the IAEA, said the material posed no risk provided it was not broken or tampered with. A search was under way in six states and in Mexico City for the truck, which has an integrated crane, the CNSNS said. The theft occurred an hour’s drive north of the capital. The commission gave phone numbers for anyone with information to call. “Whoever has or finds the equipment is urged not to open or damage it, as in these cases it can cause severe health problems,” it said. — AFP
BEIRUT: Hezbollah yesterday blamed Israel for murdering one of its top leaders near Beirut at a time of soaring tensions in Lebanon linked to the war in neighbouring Syria. The dead man, identified as Hassan Hawlo Al-Lakiss, was the group’s most senior figure to be assassinated since Imad Mughniyah in a Damascus bombing in 2008, when Hezbollah again blamed Israel. Lakiss, virtually unknown before his death was made public, belonged to Hezbollah’s secretive senior leadership. “The Islamic resistance announces the death of one of its leaders, the martyr Hassan Hawlo AlLakiss, who was assassinated near his house in the Hadath region” east of Beirut, Hezbollah said. “Direct accusation is aimed of course against the Israeli enemy which had tried to eliminate our martyred brother again
and again and in several places but had failed, until yesterday (Tuesday) evening. This enemy must bear full responsibility for all the consequences of this heinous crime,” Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television channel said. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor dismissed the allegation as “yet another Pavlovian response from Hezbollah, which makes automatic accusations before even thinking about what’s actually happened”. “Israel has nothing to do with this,” Palmor said. Damascus echoed Hezbollah’s accusations, adding that it condemned the “terrorist, cowardly” assassination. Two previously unknown groups identifying themselves as Sunnis issued separate claims of responsibility. The Free Sunnis Brigade of Baalbek called the killing revenge for Continued on Page 13
BAALBEK, Lebanon: Mourners carry the coffin of Hassan Hawlo Al-Lakiss (seen inset), one of Hezbollah’s top commanders, during his funeral in this eastern Lebanese city yesterday. — AFP
Saudi spy chief meets Putin
NOVO-OGARYOVO, Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan (second left) meet in Putin’s residence outside Moscow on Tuesday. — AFP
MOSCOW: Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief has held a new meeting in Russia with President Vladimir Putin on the Syrian conflict, the second closed-door encounter this year between the Russian leader and the key regional powerbroker. The Kremlin said in a statement late Tuesday that Prince Bandar bin Sultan discussed with Putin at the president’s suburban Moscow residence the situation in the Middle East and preparations for a Syria peace conference planned in January. “There was a detailed exchange of views on the situation around Syria, including in the context of preparations for the Geneva II conference,” the Kremlin said, without giving further details. The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had also met Prince Bandar in Moscow to discuss the Syria peace con-
ference. “The emphasis was placed on the need to ensure that regional problems are solved on the basis of respect of the UN Charter and principles of international law,” the Russian foreign ministry said. The Syria conflict has further strained already testy relations between Moscow and Riyadh, with Russia refusing to drop its cooperation with the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and Saudi Arabia openly backing the rebels. Some analysts have seen Saudi Arabia’s shock decision to reject a seat on the UN Security Council as prompted by its frustration with the use by Russia of its veto to block sanctions against Assad. Bandar last met Putin in a meeting on July 31 whose circumstances remain shrouded in mystery but which caused huge interest in the Arab world. — AFP